Chess and Constellations
by TheXGrayXLady
Summary: Will always knows exactly what to say to her to cheer her up. Whether it's at a rickety old chess table or a clearing at midnight, he has always been the one constantly good thing in Anastasia's life.


**Notes: **I got a request for a Scarlet Queen fic a while back and I don't normally do anon requests, especially when I have not asked for prompts, but I got an idea and wanted to do something with it. Allow me to specify that when I say that I don't ship Scarlet Queen, I mean that I don't ship it as they are now because I feel like there's too much bad blood and baggage for there to be enough real trust for a relationship to work. That doesn't mean that I don't think they had a good thing going in the past and would enjoy writing a little oneshot for them. Enjoy! :^)

**_Chess and Constellations_**

The fluff from the dandelion Anastasia disturbed settled upon the grass like out of season snow. Off in the distance, crickets chirped and the wind sighed as it tugged gently at her hair. The slight chill in the late spring air nagged at her, but less so than her mother's voice.

It was about the lipstick again today, or at least it started out that way. Then it turned to her step sister's soon to come coronation and her own romantic shortcomings. She'd been through it before, knew her mother's moves by heart. This time though, she would change the endgame. There had been too many stalemates for her not to. She'd needed a new one for a while anyway, rook and bishop was wearing thin. She was already meeting with Will tonight. All she had to do was pack.

The meadow was just as lovely in the moonlight as in the sunshine. The large rock they'd lounged on yesterday, watching the clouds roll by, was just on the other side, surrounded by the daisies he'd helped her weave into her hair. They were supposed to meet in the town square, but she'd sent the gardener's boy with the message that there had been a change of plans. She hoped he got it, and if he did, that he remembered. If she was going to do what she was going to do, meeting in the town square was right out.

She hugged her cloak a little closer as she waited, wishing she'd thought to wear something heavier to protect against the unseasonable cold. Then, she hadn't really been thinking when she left. She didn't need to think when she was around Will. She just needed to feel and what she felt was wonderful.

"You're early." She spun around and found herself swept up in a tight embrace.

"You're late," she replied, kissing his cheek.

"You okay?" Will said, gesturing to her traveling bag. "You've been looking forwards to that festival for months and now you just want to up and miss it."

"It'll be the first place Mum looks when she knows I'm missing," she said, smiling because here, in his arms, was the one place her mother couldn't touch her. "She's already written me off, she'll never go looking for us in Sherwood."

"Ana," he said, taking a step back. "You know what you're doin' right? The life I've got in Sherwood, it's good enough for me, but it's not…"

"It's not what Will? It's not befitting a lady of my standing?" she said, moving right with him. "I wasn't always a lady Will. I've seen your cottage, I know things are going to be hard, but it's what I want. I'd rather have that drafty window you can never fix and the creaky floorboard by the hearth than a manor or castle any day."

He stared at her, dumbfounded, for a few moments before saying, "I don't know what I did to deserve you." His smile was more radiant than the moonlight.

"You were, are, and always will be, my Scarlet Knight," she said.

The humidity and heat of the summer's day was still as vivid as ever in her mind. Anastasia watched the games of chess in the small city park for as long as she could remember, begged the grandmasters for just one match, but she always heard the same thing: Girls don't play chess. She sat down by an empty board, her shoulders slumped and another day of disappointment threatening to bring tears to her eyes.

Then she heard his voice. "I take it I'll be red then?" She looked up to see him smiling at her, his hand extended in welcome. "I'm Will. Will Scarlet."

"Anastasia," she replied, shaking his hand, trying to force a smile.

"Lovely name," he said. "I bet you're good." And she was. Will on the other hand wasn't much of an opponent. It was clear from the way he left everything exposed and couldn't seem to think more than one or two moves in advance that he'd almost certainly never played before. Yet he got her in the door and every time she went back to the park, he would come to watch her play. If they wouldn't let her, he'd make sure she got in a game, even if it was against himself.

"Couldn't stand to leave you there all alone and sad lookin'," he said. "Woulda been even more criminal than the poaching, letting talent like that go to waste."

"You opened with Queen's Gambit," she said, sitting down on the rock.

"Almost a year of you teaching me and I can finally tell you that you responded with Queen's Gambit Accepted," he said, sitting down beside her and putting an arm around her waist.

"Was there any other move I could have made?" she said, grinning and snuggling closer to him, marveling at how he was always so wonderfully warm.

"Could have declined," he said.

"I would have had to be stupider than my mum if I did that," she said, staring up at the stars.

"Speaking of your mum, you want to talk about what happened with her?"

She exhaled slowly, letting herself fall into him before she responded. "She said the red lipstick made me look like a frog. Then it spiraled from there. It always does, and it always will, so I decided to get out."

"She doesn't know what she's talking about," he said, giving her a reassuring hug. "I think that red looks good on you. And pink. And blue. And every other color. And nothin' at all." She giggled and gave him a light shove.

"You're terrible," she said.

"I'm just saying I don't care about what you're wearing or what you look like, although you do look amazing, I think you're a smart, resourceful, determined woman and…" She cut him off mid ramble with a kiss. When they separated, he finished the ramblings with, "You're one of a kind."

"Always have to get the last word," she said, shaking her head slightly and looking at the stars.

"Only because you've already won," he said, looking at the sky with her. "Looking for anything in particular?"

"Just looking," she said.

"Well," he said, "I may not know much about chess, and I don't mean to brag, but I know a little about the stars. You see that one right over there?" He pointed to a glittering light, just over the forked oak tree. "That one's a star that was put there by magic for a very special woman. You know what it's called?"

"What's it called Will?" She had a feeling she already knew the answer.

"Anastasia," he said. She could almost feel him beaming at her. "And that one? The really bright one?" He pointed again, this time to the one on the wing of the Pegasus constellation. "That one's Anastasia."

"And that one?" She pointed to the mouth of the Dragon.

"Anastasia."

"Are they really all Anastasia?" she asked, pointing to the heart of the Dog. "I seem to recall that that one's called Canis."

"The state of noble education's dreadful isn't it?" he said, shaking his head in mock disgust. "You don't even know that that star's really called Anastasia."

"Will Scarlet you are a terrible liar," she said.

"I'm not lying," he said. "I named them all myself. Named them the most beautiful name I know."

"Then what's that one then?" She pointed to the North Star.

"You know it's going to be Anastasia."

"No you dummy. That one's the star that guides people home. A steady, constant thing in a chaotic world. You know what it's called?"

"Anastasia," he insisted.

"It's called Will."


End file.
